


Tempest

by HeyMcRaely



Category: Joker (2019)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22854784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeyMcRaely/pseuds/HeyMcRaely
Summary: The seaside is just down the street from HaHa's and a little tumultuous weather isn't going to keep Arthur away.
Kudos: 1





	Tempest

**Author's Note:**

> Many love to Hannah for encouraging me to write about Arthur and the sea. Based on a real beach in NYC that's full of sea glass and my own visit to Coney Island. Didn't mean to allude to King Lear but the symbolism is all here.

The sand is more dirt and the sky is more cloud, but Arthur stands at the coast and laughs into the wind anyhow, watching the ocean fold over itself relentlessly, watching the trash skitter in the parking lot, watching the seagulls zig-zag like bad kites overhead. There’s a storm coming and even the smell of sewage in the water has been swept away. The air is empty of city noise, Arthur’s jacket whips against him, as everything is shoved to make way for the storm’s fancy. A storm has its own rules, Arthur can appreciate that. Everything must bend to her will. Tonight Gotham TV signals will flicker and windows will drumroll against frames. Amusement Mile is already barren; residents are hastening home for cover. Arthur stands for a bit more, his hair dancing in the wind’s senseless fingers, alighting off his pale forehead as he laughs and laughs. Arthur can’t swim. Arthur doesn’t even take baths. Arthur doesn’t have to get to the water’s edge to see what it’s like to be swept up in something violent. It’s the day after, when he visits again, that he’s surprised. He finds the beach a confetti of sea glass. As if the ocean harbors its own crooked definition of stars and they were all knocked out of its atmosphere. All landed on earth under the storm’s fraught hand, where they glimmer in mismatched shades of green and cobalt, proving that there are some things of beauty only chaos can bring to light.


End file.
